


Arsonist's Lullabye

by rawrimmapanda



Series: Set the World On Fire [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, First Kiss, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-06
Updated: 2017-09-06
Packaged: 2018-12-24 14:39:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12014883
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rawrimmapanda/pseuds/rawrimmapanda
Summary: The experts say that you tend to find your soulmate by the time you turn 21. It’s supposed to be the last thing you do before you’re truly an adult. That really doesn’t explain why Jake is sitting here, 22 years old, and alone in his thoughts with no soulmate to be found. He heard tales of people never finding them because their soulmate died before they could meet or just some people being unlucky and not having one at all. Jake thinks he’s one of the unlucky ones, though his parents remind him that it’s possible that because his life took a different path, he just hasn’t gotten lucky yet. He thinks it’s all bullshit and is ready to live his life without one at this point.





	Arsonist's Lullabye

**Author's Note:**

> Soulmate mess. 
> 
> Anything in italics is said over the bond.

The locker room was humming with the familiar noises. Jake was trying to focus because even though he was told he’d have a place on the team, he felt like he still needed to prove it. He could see Jack and Samson circling each other like some cosmic force was pulling them together. He heard rumors that they were soulmates, but he figured it wasn’t his business to ask. Plus, he couldn’t see any markings on them, so he wasn’t going to assume anything. He knew Tyler and Marcus were soulmates for sure. Management was quick to let him know the situation and warned him that if there were issues, he’d be shipped off. Watching them fascinated Jake because they were somewhere between a platonic and romantic bond. They acted like bros that just were really close with each other. The mark they had was easy to see too, so there was no questioning what they were. Jake quickly thought that he’d settle for a bond like that, if just so he had someone. 

 

“The rookies are really something aren’t they?” Jake heard Marcus shift next to him. 

 

“I’m technically a rookie too. So I guess I’m something?” Jake felt that he needed to stress that he might not be here because he’s also a rookie. He heard Marcus let out a laugh. 

 

“Nah dude, you’re mature and composed. You also don’t have the weight of this city on you like they do.” Marcus had a point. Jake wasn’t even marked as the future of the defense core. He was just there for now and who knew where he’d be at the end of the season. He looked up and saw Jack throwing balls of tape into Samson’s hair and he couldn’t help but smile at them. 

 

“They’re bonded you know? Once it happened management rushed to keep it a secret. I don’t think it should be one in here especially if it turns out to be a romantic bond. I don’t want to see any of those private moments and a warning would be nice.” So the rumors were true, which made me Jake feel a twinge of jealousy. 

 

“Yeah, I don’t care what they do at home but I don’t want it getting too awkward in here.” Jake laughed and saw Tyler looking at them. 

 

“Off to do our thing. Try to look up dude, you’re good and will stay. Plus, they can’t leave Rasmus alone for too long. He starts to get touchy and wants to fight whatever Swede we have in the locker room. Mostly Larry, but Lehner might actually jump to the challenge one of these days.” Marcus got up and walked across the room to hang off Tyler. 

 

Jake couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Rasmus trying to pick fights. He was so quiet and kept to himself. Not that Jake noticed too much, but for someone who was so flashy and loud on the ice, he was the opposite when around the other guys. What Jake has noticed was how well dressed the Finn was everyday and wished he had half the style. 

 

Jake gathered his stuff up and headed out to the ice. The first real game was tomorrow and he really wanted to put the work in. When he hit the ice he noticed his defence partner was chatting with Larry. It didn’t seem like they were going to fight, but he still was careful of what Marcus said. As he grabbed a puck to start a drill, he felt the cool spray of ice as Rasmus had skated over to him and stopped just short of hitting him. 

 

“We’re partners.” Rasmus smiled and offered a gloved fist out for a fistbump. Jake obliges and just nods. 

 

As the practice continued on, Jake felt like he was settling into his skin a bit more. He felt his skin was warmer than usual, but he dismissed it as a good long practice finally getting him into the groove. 

 

When practice was over, he couldn’t wait to be out of his gear, so Jake started to strip the gear off him as everyone filed back to the locker room. The warm feeling wasn’t going away, even with a cooler shower to help him out. As he left the shower and headed back to the locker room, his shoulder brushed Rasmus’ arm. In that moment, he felt like his skin caught on fire yet his veins had turned to ice. What he felt on his shoulder was nothing less than of a branding iron. Then some memories started to flash in his head; A young blonde boy learning to skate on a pond, that boy as a teenager having his first kiss, and then a smiling draft day. Then Jake heard something new in his head. 

 

_ “Vittujen kevät ja kyrpien takatalvi!”  _

 

That voice wasn’t Jake’s nor were those words. It had happened and he wasn’t sure what was going on or if it was even the right person. 

 

Jake looked over to his shoulder and he saw the outline of a lion starting to ink itself on his skin. He looked up and saw a handful of stars starting to appear on the pale skin that Rasmus has. It was breathtakingly beautiful. He realized what had just happened and who the voice belonged to. 

 

_ “I don’t know what you said, but I get it dude. I really get it.”  _ Jake sighed and quickly covered his shoulder and rushed into the locker room to grab his things. He didn’t want this to be a thing the locker room knew about right away so he tossed a shirt over his shoulder and tried to make it casual. The pain from the mark wasn’t helping the case for making it casual and putting something on it only served to make it hurt more. 

 

_ “I can feel that. Whatever you’re doing to it, stop”  _ Rasmus wasn’t freaking out as much Jake thought he should be. 

 

_ “I don’t know if you noticed, but it’s also hurting me and would you stop making that thought at me?”  _ Jake winced as he put on his shirt. Rasmus was thinking how he’ll get to help Jake dress better and right now really wasn’t the time for that. There were much bigger things to deal with, like finding out if it was romantic or platonic. 

 

_ “Google?”  _ For someone so quiet, it seemed that Rasmus was coming across as more of a smartass than Jake really wanted to deal with at the moment. And no, he wasn’t going to google what kind of bond they had. That was just silly. 

 

Jake grabbed his things and walked as quickly as he could to his car without drawing attention. He fired off an excuse about wanting to get a nap in. He was halfway across the parking lot when he felt a hand on his shoulder and a searing pain started shooting down his arm. 

 

“WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!?” Jake couldn’t help but be furious. Rasmus knew that spot already hurt. Hell, he felt the pain himself, so why did he think it was smart to touch it?

 

“Sorry. I wanted to see if you wanted to get coffee?” It was posed like a question, probably so that Jake had an out. He wanted to talk about this but it was a lot for one day and he just wanted to go home. 

 

“Or we can go to your place?” Jake was going to have to learn how to not send every single thought to him. This was bordering on creepy. 

 

“My place is fine. Do you want to follow behind or ride with me? I can bring you back later to grab your car.” Jake opened his car door because the vibes he was getting was that they were going to ride together. 

 

Rasmus climbed into the car and Jake realized he didn’t think to ask how his arm was feeling. He wasn’t getting any pain vibes from the Finn so it was hard to gauge if he was in as much pain. Once he started to drive, he got the courage to ask. 

 

“How come you’re not in pain like I am? You’re sitting there all normal and I’m trying to not touch anything because it hurts so much.”  Rasmus shifted in his seat at the question. Jake almost regretted asking because he looked so uncomfortable. 

 

“It’s not my first one.”

 

Jake didn’t know how to respond to that so he turned the radio on. He could feel some nostalgia riding off Rasmus, which was a bit confusing to Jake because he thought that you could only get a new mark if your previous soulmate died. 

 

When they got to his place, he tossed Rasmus his keys and told him to head on in. Jake pulled out his phone and opened up Google. 

 

>how to tell if a soulmark is platonic? 

 

_ “I thought you weren’t going to google that.”  _ Jake quickly pockets his phone and his cheeks start to flush a deep red. So obviously Rasmus knew what he was doing. 

 

“I just thought I’d give it a shot. It wasn’t a terrible idea.” Jake followed Rasmus inside the house and tossed his jacket on the back of a chair. 

 

“Was google helpful?” Rasmus was smirking and Jake had a feeling he would be dealing with a smartass forever. 

 

“I don’t know, I didn’t get a chance to look at anything. Do you have any answers since you’ve been through this before or do you just plan on being a smartass about everything?” Rasmus smiled at him and then slowly pulled up his shirt. He then shifted his waistband a bit lower and Jake could see a black spade on his hipbone. 

 

“I have some answers if you want to talk.” Jake nodded and they went to the couch. Rasmus put his clothes back in place, but he was giving off wistful vibes through the link. 

 

Jake tried to send back comfort, but being new to this, he didn’t know exactly how to do it. 

 

_ “Just wish them through. All you have to do is have the empathy and you can share feelings.” _

 

Jake tried again and he saw Rasmus sink back into the couch a bit more. He’s starting to get the hang of this. 

 

“I had another soulmate, but he didn’t die. He fell in love with someone else after he got traded so we broke our bond so he could be with them.” Rasmus sent some memories of his old soulmate to Jake and Jake understood that the bond he had before was platonic. He nodded at Rasmus. 

 

“So it was platonic and you just wanted him to be happy?” Jake asked cautiously. 

 

“Yes, he’s happy. We’re still good friends. The thing is, this doesn’t feel like the same as before.” Rasmus looked down at his hands and Jake couldn’t help but glance at them as well. He knew what that meant. 

 

A romantic bond didn’t mean there would be magic right away and Jake has been with guys in the past. The NTDP was an interesting place for sure. He had to admit it was something he was interested in. He found Rasmus attractive and while he tries his hardest to not peek in the locker room, he’s stolen a few glances. 

 

“So how do we do this? I know we should probably tell management tomorrow, but how do we do the whole ‘us’ thing?” Jake projected some feelings of attraction to Rasmus and quickly felt them reciprocated. 

 

“We just try. We don’t have to rush anything.” Jake smiled because he knew that he could at least try. It was something he wanted for years. 

 

He leaned forward and as he started to do that, Rasmus moved towards him. The kiss was tentative, but he felt like he was flying. He opened his eyes and Rasmus moved in again and they were kissing for real. Jake felt like his body was surging with energy and all he could think was how much he loved it. 

 

He pulled away and looked at Rasmus. He could feel his energy being projected back and he sighed happily. 

 

“We can try.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Self-serving mess with soulmates. The theory is that when soulmates first touch skin to skin, they are "branded" with a tattoo that has to do with the other person. Title is from the Hoizer song. 
> 
> The stars represent Jake's dedication to the US National Team. The lion is for Rasmus' dedication to the Finnish team. The spade is the logo of the Finnish team that Joel Armia played on. 
> 
> The Finnish translates roughly to "holy fucking shit". 
> 
> I might do a follow-up if people like this?
> 
>  
> 
> [ tumblr ](https://scandella.tumblr.com/)


End file.
